Teaching Council admits 'we dropped the ball' in sex offender case

The chair of the Teaching Council admits the organisation “dropped the ball” in its handling of a convicted child sex offender – admitting it failed to investigate concerns and use powers it already had.

A new report by lawyer Katherine Anderson KC, is highly critical of the council for allowing Timothy Fisher to continuing to teach without a valid practising certificate, and for taking until 2025 to strike him off despite serious concerns about his conduct a decade earlier.

Fisher had a known history of offending but remained in the profession, going on to commit indecent acts against children.

Speaking to 1News after the release of the review, Patrick Walsh said the findings left him feeling “sick to my stomach”.

“There were systematic failures in the Teaching Council and they included a failure to investigate, a failure to understand that the existing law and rules allowed the council to act on Mr Fisher and we didn't.”

Fisher is serving a prison sentence of four years and five months for offending including indecently assaulting nine girls, attempting to make intimate visual recordings, and making and possessing objectionable material depicting child exploitation.

The Anderson review examined the council’s handling of his case, identifying repeated opportunities to intervene.

Walsh today said poor communication with police and schools had contributed to the failures.

“Unfortunately, he was allowed to move from school to school when he should have been deregistered a number of times and the council failed to do that.”

Asked what had gone wrong inside the organisation, Walsh said its culture had not been fit for purpose.

“The council previously had a focus on being an advocate for the teaching profession and also wanting to be liked by the teaching profession.

“That was the wrong focus and we dropped the ball.”

He said safeguarding children and effective regulation should have been the Teaching Council's priorities.

“The expectation of parents when they send their children to school is that they're going to be safe in the hands of teachers.”

The council has accepted the review’s findings and apologised to Fisher’s victims, affected schools and communities, as well as to the teaching profession.

Anderson’s review found police issued a warning in July 2014 recommending Fisher not have unsupervised access to children, young people or vulnerable people. It took the council eight months to ask him about that.

In March 2015, Fisher voluntarily disclosed earlier indecency convictions. The council also held information showing he had taught without a practising certificate.

Anderson found grounds to cancel Fisher's registration as early as March 2015. It was not cancelled until September 2025.

The review distinguished between his initial registration in 2011, which it considered reasonable on the information then available, and the subsequent failures to use existing powers.

It found legislative gaps did not explain his continued teaching in Council-regulated schools after he entered the profession.

Most of the later offences occurred at a private education provider outside the council’s regulation. Fisher remained registered at the time, although his practising certificate had expired.

Education Minister Erica Stanford described the findings as an extraordinary failure of child protection and professional regulation.

“First and foremost, my thoughts are with the children who were subjected to horrific abuse, and with their families. They should have been protected, and they were badly let down.”

Stanford said the council had at least 10 opportunities over more than a decade to act against Fisher.

“Despite having the powers available to intervene, the council repeatedly failed to take the action necessary to prevent this man from continuing to work as a teacher.”

She said the failures damaged confidence among both parents and teachers.

“The reputation of our teaching profession is protected by having strong professional standards, enforcing them, and removing people who should not be working with children.”

Stanford said the Government had strengthened oversight of the Teaching Council while retaining its independence in individual regulatory decisions.

Cabinet had also agreed to progress changes to Clean Slate legislation to strengthen the information available for criminal background checks.

Walsh said the Council had written to victims and offered support.

“We sent a letter of apology.

“We have offered an opportunity for them to have trauma-informed counselling.”

He said the council was reforming its systems, strengthening checks on teachers’ character and fitness to teach, and would employ more investigators to respond promptly to complaints.

It was also improving support and communication for people who raised concerns.

Asked what would happen if a similar warning arrived today, Walsh said child-safety complaints would be escalated through the council’s triage system.

He said trained investigators would work with families, complainants and schools, with cases referred to the disciplinary tribunal where necessary.

He did not give a specific timeframe for action.

In her letter of expectations to Walsh, Stanford required urgent work to identify employed teachers without current practising certificates, speed up high-risk cases and improve support for complainants.

“But an action plan alone is not enough,” she wrote.

The Teaching Council must report monthly to the Ministry of Education on completed actions, progress against deadlines, and the number and age of cases awaiting assessment.

Stanford also set an expectation of no more than 20 cases in triage at any one time.

Walsh said his priority was ensuring no other child experienced abuse by a teacher.

“I'm a father and I've been a principal for over 20 years and I was deeply affected by the report.”